It's expensive

SAM: Let's go to the seaside on Saturday, sweetie.

SUE: Yes! Let’s go sailing and water-skiing. That's exciting.

SAM: It's expensive, sweetie. Let's just sit in the sun and go swimming instead.

SUE: Let's stay in the Six Star Hotel and spend Sunday there too.

SAM: Be sensible, Sue. It's too expensive. Let's sleep outside instead.

SUE: Sleep on the sand? You never want to spend more than the smallest possible sum of money, Sam Smith - you're such a cheapskate!

Practise reading the dialogue aloud.

171. Track 53. Listen to the dialogues and act out. Mind pronunciation of sounds.

Sally Speaks Spanish, But Not Very Well

Sally speaks_Spanish, but not very well.

When she tries to speak Spanish,

you really can't tell

what language she's_speaking

or trying to speak.

The first time I heard_her,

I thought it was Greek.

How's His English?

His English is wonderful,

he speaks very well.

His accent is perfect.

You really can't_tell

That_he isn't a native of the U.S.A.

There's only one problem,

he has nothing to say.

Sound [z]

172. Track 54. Tick the words a) or b) that you hear in the sentences.

1 a) bus	□	b) buzz	□
2 a) sip	□	b) zip	□
3 a) price	□	b) prize	□
4 a) pence	□	b) pens	□
5 a) police	□	b) please	□
6 a) Sackville	□	b) Zackville	□

173. First practise the target sound /z/ in words from the dialogue, plus others. Read the words aloud.

[s] and [z] sounds

The letter ‘s’ is usually pronounced [s] after an unvoiced sound, and [z] after a voiced sound.

	[s] after an unvoiced sound	[z] after a voiced sound
plurals	snakes, sacks, units, artists, zips	animals, parcels, arms, legs
3rd person singular	makes, thinks, wants, repeats	smells, contains, draws
`s	what’s, it’s, think’s	something’s, Susan’s

Joining /s/ and /z/ sounds

Notice that if the two sounds are different, we say the second of them enough

strongly.

Yes, Zena. (s-z) This parcel contains-six mice. (z-s) this-sack (s-s) does Susan (z-s)

Say these words that have two /s/ or /z/ sounds. Which sounds are they:

EXAMPLE Mrs ([s] [z])

1 smells 2 parcels

3 something's 4 boxes

5 Susan 6 surprising

7 Lazarus 8 sounds

9 sacks l0 zoos

174. Track 55. Listen to the dialogue, paying attention to the /s/ and /z/ sounds. Then practise reading the dialogue aloud.

Surprises in the post office

(Zena and Susan work at the post office. They ore busy sorting parcels. It’s Susan’s first day.)

SUSAN: This parcel smells, Mrs Lazarus.

ZENA: Call me Zena, Susan.

SUSAN: Yes ... Zena ... Something's written on it. What does it say?

ZENA: It says: 'This parcel contains six mice'.

SUSAN: Aw! isn't that awful, Zena! Poor animals!

ZENA: And listen, Susan! What's in this sack?

SUSAN: It's making a strange hissing noise.

SACK: (hisses) Sssssssssssssssss!

SUSAN: Zena! It’s a sack of snakes!

ZENA: So it is! ... And what do you think's in this box, Susan?

SUSAN: It's making a buzzing sound.

BOX: (buzzes) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

SUSAN: Those are bees!

ZENA: A parcel of mice ... and a sack of snakes ... and a box of bees. What do you think about this, Susan, on your first day in the parcels office? Isn't surprising?

SUSAN: Amazing! This isn't a post office. It's a zoo.